Running
by The Favorite02
Summary: Percy has been living with his abusive stepfather for years. Soon he meets a new friends because of Gabe's revenge on her father's company and he promises to get them both out of there.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **Meeting my Best Friend**

"Percy, I need you to tell me everything you can remember." an officer told me. I was sitting at a questioning room with him and my best friend, Annabeth. She squeezed my hand as i went back into my memories and told him everything.

I was just 3 then, when my life took a turn for the worst. That was the year that my mother, a sweet woman who would do anything for me, married my step dad, Gabriel Ugliano. He seemed ok at first, he took care of my mom and took her out on dates. After they got married though he became an entirely different person.

By the time that I was 5 I had gotten used to his physical abuse. Gabe was a potbellied, balding, jerk who used my mother and I as his own personal maid and abused my mother whenever she didn't do what he wanted and whenever he felt like it to me. I became his own personal punching bag.

"Why did your mother marry Gabe?" the man in front of me asked.

"She didn't have enough money to protect and take care of me. Gabe had more money, but he spent it on gambling." I answered. Then continued on with my story.

I was shaken awake roughly by one of Gabe's goons one morning and told to wake up and get ready so I could make Gabe his breakfast. Now I was seven years old and had started rebelling more to the goons, knowing that they wouldn't do anything too bad to me since Gabe liked to have me all to himself.

"Go away." I told the man. He kicked me in the back and I sat up. "Fine, fine." I told him. Then he left the room and I got changed into baggy clothes that had holes all over them. However, I took my time brushing my black hair and teeth so that Gabe would have to wait longer.

Gabe's goon knocked on my door repeatedly after getting tired of waiting and I stepped out taking good care to shut the door as slowly as possible. However, the man kept his cool and continued to walk me towards the kitchen.

"I can do it myself you know. I've been here long enough." I said. The man didn't talk though, he just slapped me in the face and pushed me through the kitchen door. My mom was already cooking, her light brown hair pulled into a sloppy bun at the top of her head. She wore her usual brown shirt and jeans, her sleeves rolled up and an apron covering her so that she wouldn't get dirty.

Once the man had left the room I went over to my mom and gave her a hug. "Percy." My mom whispered. "Are you okay?" I nodded and stepped back.

On the island in the kitchen pancakes were being made. One of them was starting to burn so I flipped it over hurriedly. My mom grabbed the spatula from my hand and took a good look at my face, cupping her hand around my other cheek. I could tell a bruise was starting to form.

"What happened to you?" mom asked me.

"That goon didn't like what I said." I told her simply. She started to grab some medical supplies and whatnot from a cabinet above the sink and started rubbing it on my cheek. It instantly made me feel a bit better.

"What's going on here?" burst Gabe as he walked into the room.

"Percy was hurt." My mother told him.

"That doesn't matter Sally, your first priority is me." he told her. I glared at him and started back on the pancakes.

"Is that all you needed?" I asked him grumpily.

"Percy!" mom hissed beside me. I ignored her and waited for Gabe's answer.

"Is that all you're going to cook?" Gabe sneered.

"Well, you are supposed to be going on a diet." I told him cheekily while patting his stomach with a smirk. He slapped my hand away in shock and then yelled,

"You will make me more." Then he stormed off and we continued making the food. We ended up making him bacon and sausages also.

"Percy, you need to learn to control yourself." mom told me.

"He deserved it!"

"I know, I know, but you need to stop before you get yourself killed!"

"Fine." I reluctantly agreed.

When the food was finally finished we carried it all out to the living room and set it down on a table in front of Gabe. He looked at it greedily and started digging in without a single word of thanks to either of us. We sat down at the couch like we had learned to do when he ate in case he needed anything else.

"I've got a big day today." Gabe told my mother.

"Why is that dear?" she asked him. It made me sick that she had to call that pig 'dear'.

"You remember the Chases?"

"How could we not?" I asked him. "It's not like you don't complain about them every day." Gabe slapped me on the cheek and pain burst through it since I already had a bruise forming there.

Then Gabe told us with a sneer "I'm off to settle our little 'argument'."

I was walking home with my best friends Thalia and Luke. They were both about 7 years older than me, but they were the only people that didn't call me a nerd and wouldn't make fun of me. They both dropped me off at my house with a quick goodbye and then I ran inside, ready to start my homework so that I could read my new book I had just gotten.

Inside my mom was reading her own book and my dad was on his computer, most likely doing something for work. It seemed like he never did anything but work. He was always either on the phone or the computer. My brothers were playing with their legos in their playroom.

I walked up the stairs to my room without a greeting to or from the others and sat at my desk starting on my math homework. However, I couldn't concentrate because of a huge headache that was forming behind my eyes and a loud banging sound coming from downstairs that must have either my parents or brothers fighting.

Then shouting sounds started floating up to my room, but it didn't sound like anyone in my family. I froze in my seat and then heard one of my twin brothers shriek in pain. I ran downstairs in a hurry and watched as they killed Matthew with one quick slit of the throat.

I hid behind a bookshelf as I watched the men round on my parents. "Where's your other brat?" one of them asked.

"U-upstairs." my dad stuttered. Thanks a lot dad, way to throw me to the wolves. Then the two men started to walk towards the stairs and caught sight of me. I screamed as they took my by the arms and lifted me up. I kicked and hit them, but they were too strong for me.

"What are you going to do with her?" my mom asked.

"We're going to take her back with us, unless you give us what we want." one of the men told her.

My father stayed silent and they started dragging me out the door and into their car. "Help!" I yelled, hoping that Thalia and Luke were still close enough the hear my pleads. "Help! Someone plea-" Just then a wash rag was wrapped around my mouth and pushed me into the car.

I looked out the window quietly without really taking anything in while tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Hey brat," Gabe yelled calling to me. "There's someone I need you to meet and show around." I dragged myself over to him and saw that a girl about my age stood behind him with blond, curly hair and gray eyes that looked slightly puffy. The girl had a washrag wrapped around her mouth that she was trying to get off.

Gabe left me with her and I took her into my room real quick and then gently helped her take off the rag on her mouth. "What's your name?" I asked her.

"Annabeth Chase.." she mumbled to me.

"Listen Annabeth, you have to act like nothing touches you here or everything will be worse for you. I have a mirror that I can let you use to clean yourself up." I told her. Then I walked over to my bedside table and grabbed it for her. She rubbed at her eyes with a wet wash rag and then gave the mirror back to me.

"What's your name?" she asked me.

"I'm Percy." I told her with my best attempt at a comforting smile.

"Percy, why was I taken here?"

"I'm not sure. Your dad has something that Gabe wants and I guess he won't give it to him." I answered. "Now, I need to finish showing you around."

Then I took her around Gabe's big mansion. I showed her the living room, the kitchen, and the different places where the cleaning supplies were held. Lastly we went to my mom's room and knocked on her door. She opened it gladly and brought in Annabeth without question.

"Who are you sweetie?" she asked her.

"I'm Annabeth Chase."

"And how old are you Annabeth?"

"I'm 7." she answered.

"Okay Annabeth, I'm Percy's mother, Sally. I trust that Percy already explained everything you'll be doing here." Annabeth nodded her head and then continued. "We've already finished our work today, so you need to go to your room until you're woken up tomorrow."

"Mom, I don't think she has a room." I commented.

"Then she'll have to stay in your room with you." mom told me.

"Why not with you?" I asked.

"I'll explain that to you when you're older."

I was then lead back to Percy's room and I sat on his bed silently while Percy laid in his bed and started to sleep. I cried once I knew he was asleep but kept the wash rag I used earlier to wash my face from tears.

Percy started thrashing in his sleep and then jerked to an upright position, panting hard. I crawled back to him and gave him a hug. He flinched and stiffened, but then returned my hug.

"Are you okay?" I asked. He nodded his head. "What was your nightmare about?"

"I can't remember." he told me. I knew that he was lying, but I didn't push him to answer me.

"Wait… why are you crying Annabeth?" Percy asked me, pulling back to examine my face.

"Oh, I was just thinking about my dad."

"I'm sorry that he took you away from him."

"Don't be." I said.

"Why?" he asked me, shocked.

"My dad had a choice to lose me or give Gabe what he wanted. I'm sure you can tell which he chose." I answered bitterly.

"Oh." is all he said in response.

Percy laid down then and I got under the covers beside him. I snuggled up to his side like I used to do to my brothers when they had nightmare, before they died because of my dad, and we both fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **Wise Girl and Seaweed Brain**

The next morning I got up carefully so that I wouldn't wake Annabeth. She was still curled up against my side like last night and it was surprisingly more comfortable than being alone. However, I needed to ask her about that after she woke up.

I found something to wear without really looking since I didn't care and then slipped it on. Annabeth eventually began to stir and then sat up in the bed looking confused, then a look of realization dawned on her as she must have remembered what had happened yesterday. She got up slowly and then looked in the mirror to make sure she didn't look like she had been crying, same as I did after her.

"I don't have anything to wear." Annabeth realized. I looked around in my pile of clothes and grabbed a shirt for her.

"Here you go," I told her. "I don't have any pants that would fit you so you'll have to keep the pair you have on."

Then I turned around so that she could change. When I turned around she had on my shirt, which looked like a dress on her. It covered her shorts making it look like she wasn't wearing any pants.

"Do you want a pair of my pants?" I asked her, blushing slightly.

"No, this'll be fine." she told me.

I stuttered something about her having to wear something that showed her pants, but she took down her ponytail and wrapped the band around her shirt, making it shorter. Annabeth's hair now flowed around her and we made our way to the kitchen to make breakfast.

Mom was already in the kitchen making bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Annabeth immediately went over to help with the hash browns. My mom took an instant liking to Annabeth and helped her along with the hash browns while still managing the eggs and I helped with the bacon.

After a while when I was pouring the orange juice behind Annabeth she accidentally flipped a tiny part of the hash browns too hard and they ended up hitting me in the back of the head. She turned around and giggled at the mess of my hair.

In retaliation I flung some nearby flour at her and Annabeth's face became a weird white color, almost like a clown. I laughed at her face until I became the target and flour hit me in the stomach. I grabbed Annabeth by the stomach and turned her around so that she was pressed to me, then I started tickling her.

She laughed extremely hard and tried getting away by going limp, but I made a seat for her with my legs by bending down. Then Annabeth started to kick her legs out to try and stop me, but I didn't mind a few bruises to hear her laugh after everything that had happened to her the last two days.

"What is going on here?" Gabe yelled as he came through the room. He saw the problem and came over to slap Annabeth. She fell to the floor and I rounded on Gabe.

"You have no right to hit her!" I yelled at him.

"Is the little brat sticking up for his girlfriend?" Gabe asked me in a baby voice. I ignored his comment and kicked him in the shin. He groaned and then walked over to Annabeth pulling her upright by her hair. "I'm warning you," he said in a deadly whisper. "Try anything and she gets it." Then he threw her back on the floor and left the room.

Mom ran over to her and checked her out. She had a few new bruises on her back, but other than that she seemed ok. "Annabeth, I'm going to get you some ambrosia. Okay?" I told her, pulling out the medical supplies my mother had gotten for me the other day. Then I gave it to my mom to rub on her bruises.

Then mom got up and put the food that we had made on a plate for Gabe. I kneeled beside Annabeth and helped her stand up. "I'm sorry I got you in trouble." she told me.

"Hey, I had just as much of a part in it as you. This wasn't your fault." I replied. She nodded her head with a bright smile and then helped by grabbing the orange juice that I had poured earlier as we walked towards Gabe.

 _Butterflies started fluttering in my stomach making me sick. I absolutely, positively, did not want to see Gabe again. I grew stiffer the closer I got to the living room where Gabe was at. Percy put a hand on my shoulder for a second and then took it off to open the door._

" _Finally, I was starting to grow impatient." Gabe complained. Percy grabbed a table and placed it in front of him while I sat down his drink. He started eating his food with much gusto and I couldn't help but think, I know why he's so fat now._

 _Sally and Percy sat down at the far edge of the couch and I took their lead taking a seat between the two. Sally grabbed my hand sensing my nervousness and I instantly calmed._

 _Gabe didn't complain again and i took that as a good sign, but when he was done eating he started to talk to us again. "Annie Belle, I want you to do the brat's chores with him to get used to everything. Sally, I'll see you in your room."_

" _Her name is Annabeth." Percy said defiantly._

" _Watch it, remember what I said about Annie Belle. Since you obviously don't care about your own health, maybe you'll care about hers." Gabe got up slowly and advanced in my direction. I watched him with wide eyes until he was standing right in front of me. He grabbed me by the waist and then threw my over his shoulder while I screamed and shouted. Then he threw me to the ground making me do a flip over his shoulder, effectively making me land on my back and knocking the wind out of me._

 _While I tried to catch my breath Percy ran over to check on me. He helped me sit up and I got dazed for a few seconds. He pulled me in for a hug as he had done last night and I squeezed him back._

" _How can you do that? They're just kids!" Sally yelled at Gabe. It appeared that Percy's mom had a rebellious streak as well._

" _Shut up! I'll meet you in your room after I finish with these two." Sally was then forced out of the room by one of the men that had taken me here yesterday._

" _Let her go." Percy told Gabe. Gabe just slapped him in the face and then me in return. I contained my scream remembering what Percy had told me the other day._

" _What do you say?" Gabe asked Percy._

" _Um, I don't know. You're a jerk?"_

" _Not the right answer." Then Gabe kicked me in the side._

" _Okay, okay. I'm sorry."_

" _Don't let it happen again brats.:" Gabe told us as he dragged us by the ears out of the room._

"Okay Annabeth, the first thing we need to do is the laundry today." I told her. She nodded, her hair bouncing as she did so. Then she followed me to the hamper that was supposed to hold Gabe's clothes, but they were scattered all around his room. And his room was an absolute pig sty.

"Where's his room in all this mess?" Annabeth asked, shocked. My lips upturned a bit and then I started picking up the clothes and Annabeth followed suit.

"So, I'm guessing that we'll be cleaning his room after the laundry." Annabeth commented after carefully handling a pair of Gabe's underwear and throwing it at my face. I caught it and threw it in the hamper.

"Right you are."

Then we grabbed the clothes Annabeth had worn yesterday and stuck them in there. Hopefully Gabe wouldn't catch us washing them, but we had to because I doubted he would buy her any clothes since he's seen that she can wear mine.

We ran down the stairs trying not to look suspicious and then into the laundry room to sort the clothes. Annabeth separated them into different piles based on their color and then we picked the biggest stack, the blue and green stack, and stuck the clothes in the washer. I turned it on and then Annabeth looked at me expectantly.

"Now we clean his room." I told her. Annabeth's face fell and I laughed then dragged her up the stairs.

We passed by my mom's room and heard a slight growling sound going through the door. "What's going on in there?" Annabeth asked worriedly. I had a small idea of what was going on and to save Annabeth from seeing that I stopped her in her tracks.

"You don't wanna go in there." I told her.

"But what if your mom's hurt?"

"Gabe's in there, remember? He may not be a big teddy bear, but he isn't going to let anything happen to Sally. It would cause too much attention in our direction with the police."

The wheels in Annabeth's head were turning and I could tell she was thinking hard about this. "Come on Wise Girl." I told her.

"Wise Girl?" she asked, slightly confused and I think maybe even touched.

"Yeah, because I can already tell that you're really smart." I told her. She blushed a little and smiled, forgetting all about what was happening inside mom's room. I wish it was that easy for me.

 _Percy and I had finally finished cleaning Gabe's room. There were a lot of things in there that I never knew would be in a room, cereal, cheese, and several spiders. The first one that I saw I jumped almost out the window, Percy caught me just in time. He saw what it was and then hurriedly killed it._

 _Sally had made lunch by herself and brought us some after Gabe had eaten. I'm not sure if she ate any herself though. Percy and I met her in the kitchen again to cook dinner. She was already in there and was making some weird salad with seaweed in it, steak, and wine._

" _I'm almost finished dears. Percy, will you finish the salads for me? Annabeth, I need you to pour a glass of wine." Sally told us._

 _I walked to the refrigerator and poured Gabe some wine. Something told me he didn't need very much though, so I didn't pour as much as I normally would have thought to. Then I grabbed another glass and poured water in it just in case._

 _Percy, being the clumsy person that he is, tripped when he picked up the salad though and there was so much seaweed on his head it looked like he had made a wig out of it. I laughed then said, "Nice going Seaweed Brain."_

" _Seaweed Brain?" he asked._

" _Your brain was obviously filled with seaweed, because no intelligent person would have tripped." I told him with a smirk._

" _Whatever Wise Girl." he told me, then Percy picked up all the food and set it back on the plate even though it had fallen on the ground. I laughed and he put a finger to his lips and winked at me._

 _Afterwards we took him his food and Percy, Sally, and I held in our laughter as he ate the food that had fallen on the floor, Percy took me back to his room. He gave me some pants that he had to make me feel more comfy and then turned around as I changed. Then he put on his pjs as I laid on the bed with my face in a pillow._

 _When he had finished he jumped on the bed causing me to roll off of it and land on the floor in a heap. He laughed and asked, "Are you okay?" I glared at him and then got back on the bed._

 _I turned the lamp off beside my bed so we could sleep and then got under the covers. "Do you think we'll ever get out of here?" I asked Percy weakly._

" _I promise we will. I'll get us out of this place."_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

An Orphan

It was years later now and I was still trying to fulfill my promise to Annabeth. The words I had said in the late night had not been forgotten even 8 years later when we were both 15. Several times I had tried to get away, but I couldn't stand to leave my mom, who refused to try escaping. She told Annabeth and I that she would hold him off and cover for us to give us enough time to get away.

There was a knock on the door and Annabeth shook me in the bed. She was already dressed in one of my old shirts and jean shorts, her hair in its normal ponytail. I rolled away from her and burrowed my face in my pillow. Annabeth then yanked the pillow out from under my head and whacked me with it.

"Okay, okay, I'm up." I told her, sitting up. Then I got up and changed as she turned around so she didn't see me. We both walked into the kitchen like normal and met my mom to start cooking breakfast.

Mom was making pancakes and rushed to us as soon as she noticed that we had entered. She hugged us both fiercely. "He knows." She whispered to us, her head in between our heads.

Annabeth did a large intake of breath and I froze. Gabe knew that I had tried to get away yesterday by going out the window at night, but how? "You two have to run." Mom said.

"I'm not going without you." I insisted.

She shook her head at me. "I'm not asking." Mom then pushed us towards the window and opened it for us. "Here's some money for a taxi. Get out as fast as you can and get as far away from here as you can."

Before we could leave the door swung open showing Gabe. "What are you trying to do brat?" He asked me.

"Uh..." I managed, but he wasn't paying attention to me anyways. Gabe went up to The knife block and yanked the biggest one out. Then he walked towards Annabeth, menacing and cold like. Annabeth backed up, but she was already pressed against the wall. Gabe thrust the knife in the air and then plunged it into my mom's chest, who had jumped in front of Annabeth's body.

I ignored the pounding in my head and the need to cry. I used all the pent up anger and revenge to get back at all Gabe had ever done to us and to make sure he never tried to touch Annabeth ever again.

I stared, frozen in my spot at the limp form of Sally, who had become like a mom to me in the past years. She was the person that I strived to be like when I got older, not my mom or dad. Blood was flowing freely from her chest where her heart lay. There was no way she would live.

Percy's face went red with anger and he pounced on Gabe, even though he still had a knife in his hand. I watched in horror as Percy avoided being hit with the knife. Then I ran over to the knife block and picked one up as Gabe had. I carefully stalked behind him and then stabbed him in the middle of the back. If nothing else he would be paralyzed or injured so badly that he couldn't follow us out.

Percy rolled out from under the collapsed Gabe. He ran over to Sally and held her hand in his own. "Come on mom, wake up!" He repeated over and over. Her blood was starting to soak his clothes, but he didn't mind at all.

I walked over to him and gently out my hand in his shoulder. "Come on Percy, we have to leave before we're caught." Percy stood up carefully and then went out the window after helping me out. We ran then out of the neighborhood and then to the busy morning streets.

I called a taxi as soon as we got there since Percy didn't know how to. "Where are you two going?" The man driving asked. The driver didn't notice our rumpled and blooded clothes or our horrified faces.

I looked at Percy then, not sure of the answer. "Montauk Beach." Percy answered. He seemed more calm now, but I knew that was only because he had a mission. He needed to get us both far away and then he'd allow himself to break down. I decided to help him by keeping his mind off of his mom.

"Why Montauk Beach?" I asked him.

"That's where my mom met my dad. We own a beach house there. It isn't the best, but it'll work for now." He answered. I nodded and then set my head on his shoulder, but he didn't set his head in top of mine like he normally would, he stared straight ahead as he tried not to cry.

The car stopped in front of a brown beach house, but it really reminded me more of a cabin. The ceiling sagged a bit to the right and there were spiderwebs everywhere. I could tell there would be some encounters with the 8 legged creatures.

Percy ran inside that house, not able to take it anymore. There was a loud slam of the door and I was a bit worried that the house would collapse in on him. Maybe that had been his goal.

I paid the driver some of the money Sally had given us and then followed Percy inside the house, not paying a bit of attention to the different rooms and furniture. Then I found a messy head of black hair laying on a blue bed.

I ran inside the house and made my way over to the bed my parents had shared before my mom died. Surely I had crawled in here after nightmares, but I didn't remember any of that. I was too young then.

Now that I was alone I let myself wallow in my own self pity and to let out all the tears I had contained since I started living with Gabe. It felt new and surreal that I was able to cry without fear of being shown to a whole new chore. It was nice to be able to show my emotions for a change, even though it had been brought on by something so painful.

The bed shifted slightly and I jumped a bit, but I knew that it was Annabeth that had sat down beside me. I didn't look up from the pillow that my face was smothered in though. My shoulders shook as I tried to breath. I didn't want her to feel how sad and hopeless I felt.

"I'm so sorry." Annabeth told me, her voice quivering. She hugged me from behind and laid her face on my back. I felt the back of my shirt slowly get wetter and wetter as she cried too.

I slowly sat up then and Annabeth did as well, rubbing the tears from her eyes and cheeks. Then I hugged her tight and we both sat there comforting the other. I believe that, had I been alone and without Annabeth, then I would have done something drastic.

Eventually it was late and we realized that we had sat there almost the entire day. Annabeth then made me lay down and went to the kitchen to investigate the food supplies.

Annabeth eventually came back with two sandwiches and sat down beside me. I grabbed the closest one and sat it on my lap, not able to eat. Annabeth held it up to her mouth once and took a bite, but I could tell she was forcing herself to eat.

"You have to eat Percy or you'll get sick." She persuaded me. I didn't really care right now if I would get sick, but I didn't want Annabeth to have to deal with that. So I took a small bite of my sandwich and swallowed hard. This comforted her a bit and she managed to eat about half of her sandwich.

After we were both done she took the dishes to the sink and got back in the bed beside me. "You should get some rest." She told me. Then she snuggled up to my side like she had done every time something had happened like nightmares since the first day I met her. I closed my eyes and she gently stroked my hair as I fell asleep.

Percy started squirming in his sleep, which woke me up. I hadn't slept much that night because I wanted to make sure he was ok, I guess I must have dozed off at some point.

I shook him awake and he bolted upright, drenched in sweat. He whipped his forehead off as he panted. "Are you alright?" I asked him.

"No, I didn't keep my promise." He sounded angry, like he wanted to punch Gabe straight in the face.

"Yes you did, you got us both out of there."

"But I didn't get out mom." He whispered, his voice quivering.

"Percy, your mom isn't there anymore. She may not be with us, but she isn't with Gabe either. I think that she'd be happier where she is know than she would be here." I explained. He nodded and then laid his head down again.

"What was your nightmare about?" I asked cautiously. I didn't want to make things worse or to make him mad at me.

"It was about my mom." He choked out. I knew what that meant, he must have dreamt about what happened to Sally. There was nothing I could say to make that better, no words could heal this wound in his heart. So instead I snuggled up to his side.

"It's not your fault." I told him. He was one of those people who always blamed themselves for anything wrong that happened. He was probably going through every single way that he could have prevented this from happening, starting from not trying to get out of there.

"I could have stopped it!" He growled, though more at himself than at me.

"No, you couldn't have. What we need to do is to go to the police and make sure that Gabe doesn't do this to anyone else. Understood?" I asked. I realize that I sounded a bit like a mom scolding her child, but this was the only way to make him listen when he was in this state.

"Mom told us just to get as far away from them as possible. I'm not letting you get yourself caught." He reasoned.

"How would going to the police get us caught?"

"That would put you out in the open. Let's just get out of here and then try it. It's safer that way. I don't wanna lose you too." There was a sudden pounding in my chest after he said that. I noticed all too well that he didn't want me out in the open, he never said anything about himself, but that was probably just from grief.

"Ok. We get one state away and then I'm going to the police, like it or not." I replied.

"Thank you." Then he squeezed my hand and my world started spinning from giddiness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Quick AU:Thank you so much! I have reached 400 viewers, which is amazing. Now, let's get up those followers and reviews. Back to the story!**

 **Chapter 4**

 **An Intruder**

In the weeks that had past I had slowly gotten a bit better. Annabeth had refused to travel until I was better, so we had stayed here for a while. We were running out of food though and people were starting to get suspicious of our little cabin. A constant fear ran through us both that one day someone would knock on that door, and hopefully it would be someone nice, but not a police officer.

You see, that's the thing when you're in the run from someone. Your way of seeing things changes. Normally the cops would help you when in a bad situation, that's what they're for. But to me that'll just get the people you're running from's attention. Surely there would be news reports on this, then they would just know where we are. That would put us right back at the beginning.

Annabeth and I were cooking one of the nicest meals we'd had since we'd gotten here, oatmeal. It was pretty easy. I got one of the bowls ready while Annabeth put them in the microwave. By the time her bowl was done cooking I was done fixing mine. It made things much faster this way and we both didn't want to leave each other to our own thoughts.

"We need to leave soon. The goons are gonna start coming after us. I doubt that your blow to Gabe killed him and that probably just made him more mad. He's gonna be coming after us." I told her.

"I think so too, but I don't want to leave until you're able to." She replied.

"Annabeth, I'm not sick or paralysed. We need to move before we don't have that option anymore."

"I guess you're right."

"Aren't I always?" I asked with a smirk.

At first she was a bit surprised I had said that, then she said, "No, this is a bit of a surprise to me. I'll have to mark this day on my calendar." I stuck out my tongue and then took a bite of the maple oatmeal.

Then the dreaded knock on the door came. We had talked before that we should both just be completely silent and wait for the person to move on, but since I had been so shocked I dropped my spoon making a large clattering sound. Annabeth elbowed me and gave me a look that said, "look what you've done now!"

When neither of us answered the door it was swung open and we decided to hide under the table with our spoons held out like weapons. Don't judge, it was the best thing we had at the moment.

Footsteps approached us and Annabeth went stiff beside me. She could do damage if she wanted to, and I could tell she was analyzing whether or not that was the best route at the moment.

The footsteps stopped beside the table, a pair of black tennis shoes were right in front of us. I looked at Annabeth and mouthed "on three." Then I held up one finger at a time until I reached three. We both jumped up at the same time and looked at the intruder.

It was a boy about our age with curly brown hair under a hat and some serious acne. His face was frozen in fright and his hands were stretched out to keep us from attacking.

"Stop!" Annabeth shrieked at me before anything happened.

"Who are you?" I questioned the boy. He didn't seem dangerous, but any number of things could go wrong with his knowing we were here. He could tell his parents and get us caught or tell the police and get us caught.

"My name's Grover." He stuttered. He then took off his hat and rubbed a hand through his hair nervously.

"How did you find us?" Annabeth asked. I let her take over from here. She's the smart one.

 _"How did you find us?" I asked him, stepping closer so that I could read his body language. This had been a skill that I had had to learn while with Gabe._

 _Grover looked nervous, his eyes were shifty, but he met my gaze easily so I was pretty sure he wasn't lying to me. "I ran away. I needed a place to stay."_

 _"Why did you run away and who from?" I continued._

 _His face then started to look a bit sad and guilty. "I was at an orphanage. I ran because I wanted to get away from the people there." He told us._

 _"I trust you Grover. Don't lose my trust." I told him with a certain amount of command in my voice. That was a lie though, I was going to be watching him carefully until I was for sure we could trust him._

 _"What are we gonna do?" Percy asked, clueless as always. His head was cocked to the side and his face scrunched up in confusion._

 _"Do you have anywhere to go?" I asked Grover. I really doubted that he did seeing as he had come here._

 _"No." He answered._

 _"Do you wanna come with us then?" I continued. It was the best option, if he was always with us then we wouldn't have to worry about him telling the police about us. Grover didn't look convinced about coming though. "Listen, we're on the run too. Percy's step dad kept us at his house and we were practically his slaves. He killed Percy's mom and then we ran away. We're going to get as far away from here as possible and then go to the police."_

 _Grover still looked a bit uneasy, but he reluctantly agreed to come with us. After a while of getting to know him I gathered that he was very friendly and cared very much for nature._

" _Where are you going?" Grover questioned._

" _That's a good question…" Percy admitted. I elbowed him hard in the ribs, reminding him that he made things worse whenever he opened his mouth._

" _As far away from here as possible." I supplied._

" _That isn't really an answer." Grover told me._

" _Listen, do you want to come or not?" I asked impatiently. He thought it over hard for a few minutes and then nodded his head, though his face still wasn't very sure._

 _Then he asked me. "Do you have any extra oatmeal?"_

All my things that I had managed to find here were packed up in a small backpack. another one held canned food that Annabeth would carry, which was good since she was more responsible than me. Grover had his own bag which carried who knows what, but Annabeth and I hadn't asked him. We did know that he didn't have a phone though, so he wouldn't be able to call the police.

We met at the front door and Annabeth and I looked at each other, green eyes meeting grey ones, each drawing strength from the other until we were able to go through with what was planned. I gave her a lopsided smile and she smirked back at me.

I led them out to a taxi that we called to come pick us up and we all hopped in, Annabeth in the middle. "Where are you kids going?" the driver asked.

"Um…" I started.

"San Francisco." Annabeth interrupted.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Remembering**

We arrived in San Francisco by the end of the day while driving. We had left pretty early too. What I was wondering was how we were going to pay for all of this. We didn't have any money to spare.

"That'll be $5,000." The driver told us. We definitely didn't have that much money. I looked over to Annabeth, she didn't seem to have any ideas either, her face was scrunched up in concentration and she bit her lip in worry.

"I've got it all here sir." Grover told the man, handing him a big wad of money. The driver looked only at how thick it was and was happy. He let is get out a rode away cackling.

"Where did you get so much money?" I exclaimed.

"My dad left me some money before he died. I grabbed it all before I left the orphanage. That was only $200. Luckily he didn't count the money." Grover looked sheepishly at us.

"That was brilliant." Annabeth said, though a little bit quieter than normal.

"What's up?" I asked her, knowing that something was wrong. You tend to figure this stud out after living with someone for 8 years.

"This is my old home." She told me softly. I just then took in the appearance of the nice looking house we had stopped at. It was two stories tall and was elegant looking. Annabeth stepped inside, almost in a daze, and Grover and I both follower her.

Inside was even better than the outside. The furniture was all white in the living room with black pillows and a black coffee table in the middle of it all. All the white made all the blood stand out though. On the couch was a man, his flesh starting to decay from years of death. I couldn't tell much about what he looked like though.

"What happened here?" I asked Annabeth.

"Gabe's goons came her," then she took us up to her room, tracing the steps. "I came up to do my homework here. Then I heard noise from downstairs. I went to go see what it was," she went downstairs then and stopped behind a bookshelf. "I watched everything happen from here," then she moved to a room with two more small bodies and lots of toys leaving us behind. "My brothers were killed in her as my parents watched," then she moved to the living room again. A body was laying on the floor behind the couch. "My mother died afterwards. When they asked where I was my dad told then and they went to come get me, but found my hiding place instead. My dad had the option to give them whatever they wanted or give me up. You already know what he chose."

Then she fell to the floor crying.

 _Everything about being here put me in a trancelike state. I had to remember everything, then it all came crashing down. I fell to the floor, unable to control my emotions anymore. Immediately Percy rushed over and sat beside me, scooping me up into a hug._

 _"He watched it all without feeling anything! He didn't even care that he gave me away for Gabe to do who knows what with me!" I yelled. Percy didn't say anything, he just let me get out what I needed to say._

 _"And now he's dead," I moaned. "He was probably tortured or worse because of whatever he did."_

 _"Are you sorry about him dying?" Percy asked me._

 _"He was my father. He made bad decisions, but no one deserves this." I explained, motioning to the room around me. Percy nodded while Grover backed away awkwardly, I didn't blame him since he didn't really know either of us._

" _Do you want to leave here?" Percy asked me._

" _No, not yet. I figured we could stay here for a while until the police here catch Gabe." I told Percy. He nodded._

" _Why don't you go up to your room while I clean the place up." Percy replied. I nodded and then shakily got up to walk up the stairs into my room._

 _Once inside I took everything in. It was a girlie room, since my mom had wanted it that way. The walls were pink and there were butterflies everywhere. There were tiny hints of me in the room too though in the hundreds of books all over and the clothes that were still all over the place that my mother didn't approve of._

 _I ran my hand over the desk that I had sat at to do homework, the last thing I had done before I had went downstairs and seen everyone in my family die. It was dusty, my room hadn't been cleaned in years. Then I sat at the little desk, looking at the years due library books._

 _I bit my lip to keep from crying out, all my emotions overwhelming me. So I moved to my bed, picking up a teddy bear that Thalia and Luke had gotten me for my birthday just a few weeks before I was taken and hugged it, just like they had told me to do whenever I was sad about my parents, but back then it had been because they didn't pay enough attention to me._

" _I wish they were here now." I whispered to myself. That's when I heard a loud scream of shock from downstairs, just like what had happened the last time I was here._

When I started to clean Grover attempted to help me. Attempted being the key word. Eventually I just took over the job, first cleaning the playroom with the two children in it since it seemed that Annabeth cared the most about them. This was probably because they were too young, too innocent.

I first moved their bodies to the far corner of the room and behind a couch so that Annabeth would have a harder time seeing them. This way she would have to be looking for them to see them. Then I cleaned up the blood on the floor and off of every lego.

Then I got to work on Annabeth's mom who was positioned behind the couch in the living room. I moved her by annabeth's two brothers and left her there, then started washed the blood off of the floor. During this Grover was finding food in the pantry that wasn't expired.

That's when the door opened and I ducked under the couch, just waiting to hear the rough ugly voice of Gabe or one of his goons. Whoever it was started coming my way, I tensed my body to attack whenever they rounded the corner of the couch.

"Hey Perce, what do you-oh shoot." Grover said, stumbling through doorway from the kitchen to the living room. I finally saw who it was that came into the house, a girl with black hair and electric blue eyes and a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes as well, but they weren't as deep both about 21 years old. The girl from the group shrieked in surprise, but she quickly regained herself to start questioning us.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, glaring at me. Then I heard loud thumps coming from upstairs, Annabeth. She stopped behind the bookcase she had hid from so many years ago, a teddy bear in her hand.

"Annie?" the boy with blonde hair asked, looking confused.

Annabeth glared at him, then stopped and a look of surprise replaced it. "Luke?" she asked. The boy nodded and scooped Annabeth up into a hug. She hugged him back tightly.

"What happened to you? Everyone thought you had died along with your mom and dad." the girl asked, making Luke move so that she could give Annabeth a hug. Annabeth started crying again now.

"I got taken away. I tried calling, but you never came!" she whimpered.

Then the girl said. "We won't leave again."

 _It felt amazing to just see Luke and Thalia again. As they hugged me I was transported to a happier time when we would go to the movies and just hang out. Before I was kidnapped anyways._

 _"What happened?" Thalia asked me once again, sitting me down on the couch, but being careful to make sure I didn't end up on the bloody part while Luke stood behind the couch. She still had her arms around me even as we sat and I started to explain everything in more detail._

 _"Oh my gosh." Thalia said, shocked about everything I had been through in the past years._

 _Luke went over to Percy and have him a man hug. "Thank you so much for taking care of her." Luke told him._

 _"No problem." Percy replied awkwardly. He looked at me for help and I stifled a laugh, getting up to get Luke by giving him another hug._

 _"Are you ok?" Luke asked me._

 _"Not really," I admitted. He looked a bit worried about that, but I cut him off before he could say anything else about it. "What's been going on here while I've been gone?"_

 _"Not much." Thalia replied, blushing._

 _"Not much huh?" Luke questioned, reach over to lift her head up. "You call getting married 'not much'?" He asked her._

 _"You're getting married?" I shrieked. I would have never expected that. "Who to?" That's when Luke started blushing as well. "No way! You're getting married!"_

 _Then I noticed how awkward Percy and Grover were right now. They were shifting around nervously, and honestly, I didn't know what to say to Thalia and Luke after being away for so long._

 _"Is there anything we can do to help?" Luke asked me._

 _"We could use your car later." I suggested._

 _"Sure thing," Thalia told me. "We better get out of here. We'll be back here tomorrow for you to use the car." Then she came over and gave me one last hug._

 _Then Luke came over and ruffles my hair like he had before I was taken away. "See ya later kiddo." He told me. Then they both walked out and left in their car to leave, the flowers they had brought forgotten on the table._


	6. AN

A/N:Sorry guys, but I won't be continuing this story. I got involved with much better ones and got bored with this plot. Anyone who wants to continue this story is more than welcome to, and I'll probably even read it myself ;). Anyways, one more quick thing, if you liked this story, please go and check out my other story I've been writing, Elementals.


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